ACC Working On New Orange Bowl Deal

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Jeff

The ACC is working with the Orange Bowl to finalize a new deal that will have the ACC champion play either Notre Dame, an SEC team or a Big Ten team starting in 2014.  If the ACC champion makes it to the National Semifinals, then another ACC team will be selected to take their place.  Apparently it is still undetermined how the Orange Bowl will choose between Notre Dame, an SEC team or a Big Ten team to face the ACC team.  The basic idea is the ACC and Orange Bowl would have the opportunity to take Notre Dame, if it doesn’t make the national semifinals; an SEC team not in the national semifinals or Champions Bowl; or a Big Ten team not in the semifinals or Rose Bowl.

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How Do You Get To Be A Voter For The AP Poll?

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Jeff

Seriously, at this point it is a mystery to me.  This week we have our two favorite AP voters at it again, with an epic tie for worst poll of the week.  They’re both so bad that I had to share them both.

Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News

These guys are going to have a “who’s the bigger dumbass” contest for the entire year.  Which brings me to my biggest question, how do you get to be a voter for the AP Poll?  Do you just have to volunteer and write for some newspaper somewhere in the country?  Because prior football knowledge is clearly not a prerequisite.  How can someone so uninformed be a part of determining the football rankings?  How can your poll be so drastically different from the average AP Poll voter?  Are you intentionally trying to be different or are you just that stupid?  I’m seriously at a loss at this point; it’s beyond frustrating.

In other less frustrating news, in case you were wondering why Shane Morris was having such horrific stats for a five-star quarterback the past couple weeks, it’s because he was diagnosed with Mono.  His coach says he’ll be back in 10 days, but we’ll see what happens.

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Calvin Johnson Listed On Lions Injury Report With Foot Injury

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Jeff

As I have said before, perhaps over 1 Million times, THERE IS A MADDEN CURSE.  Now they’re saying that Calvin is “fine” and it’s more “precautionary,” but this is why all of you morons that voted for Calvin to be on the cover are in fact, morons.  He missed practice today, and sure it’s only one practice, but that’s how it starts; who knows how quickly it could escalate.  Seriously, there is a laundry list of players that have experienced the curse, and all of you clowns wanted him on the cover?  Way to go.  We don’t know how serious it is at the moment, but it is time to start praying that it is nothing.

No one listened to my warning and now theres this.  I had been holding my breath every time he was on the field to begin with, and now he is listed with an injury and we have no idea how serious it is.  Sure, it could be a bone bruise and be nothing, but what if its a lisfranc injury?  Ask Ronnie Brown how easy it is to come back from that.  In case you didn’t know, that’s the injury that cause Ronnie Brown to go from Wildcat hero, to complete duster in a span of a few months.  It’s a serious injury that has a permanent impact.  I’m just praying Calvin can make it through this year without any serious or permanent issues.

Screw you, EA Sports.  Why don’t you put Tim Tebow on the cover, only ESPN would miss him.

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Notre Dame Moving To ACC In All Sports….Except Football

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Jeff

Notre Dame yet again get its way.  They get to move to one of the marquee conferences, and they can continue to keep their football independence and their NBC contract.  The only thing they have to do is play five football games per year against ACC teams; which ACC teams it will be against has not been announced yet.  I think the two-year hiatus with Michigan is now even less surprising; they don’t want to have too tough of a schedule with the addition of the ACC teams, otherwise they might not win more than 7 games.  This two-year gap will give them a chance to play some of the bigger conference teams, such as Florida State and Clemson.

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The Lions Will Rise and Fall With Matthew Stafford

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Jeff

First, before diving into a brief recap of the lions game, let me take a moment to say that we should never forget those that lost their lives on 9/11/01.  I still remember sitting in the computer lab in the basement of Slauson Middle School, while two of my teachers argued over whether or not they should turn on the TV for us.  Eventually it was turned on and moments after, the second plane hit the second tower.  Truly one of the most shocking things I have ever seen on television, and I’m sure most would say the same.  Thank you to all of the NYPD, NYFD and troops that have fought and died to protect us and our freedom.

Onto a much lighter topic, the Detroit Lions.  I thought the Lions had outgrown the whole “let’s march down the field with hardly any time left and steal a win, while nearly giving Jeff a heart attack,” but apparently not.  Matt Stafford played poorly, to put it nicely, but the last drive of the game certainly made up for the three INT’s.  It was so bad at one point though, that I was beginning to question his sobriety.  Stafford was slinging the rock well and had control of the offense for full drives and one bad throw would kill it.  He was a true field general out there, which was a very positive sign, he just needs to make a few better decisions, particularly near the red zone.

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The Funchise Is Born: Michigan vs. Air Force

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Jeff

Yesterday was most certainly not a pretty effort by the Michigan defense.  Quite honestly, I thought it was my freshman year of college and I had been sucked into some kind of sick and twisted time warp world, where our defense is still blatantly horrendous.  The triple option gives many teams fits, always has, always will.  That’s why teams that have trouble recruiting, such as the service academies, choose to use it.  That being said, under no circumstances should our defense ever give up 417 yards of offense to Air Force, along with 25 points.  I was also concerned with the amount of true freshmen that were on the field; again.  Especially when Joe Bolden replaced Kenny Demens at middle linebacker.  I said earlier that it would be tough to keep Bolden off the field because he was such a great playmaker.  The issue is, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with a true freshmen replacing a redshirt senior.  If the coaches think that it’s what’s best, than great, but Demens was Michigan’s leading tackler last year, he’s no slouch.  It’s just going to be tough for an 18-year-old when the Big Ten schedule comes around.

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NHLPA Announces NHL Players Willing To Play Without CBA To Avoid Lockout

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Jeff

The CBA, or lack there of, is the giant hold up right now for the NHL.  Without one, there is no way to determine the rules for dividing money, or what rules the league will operate under.  But, earlier this evening, Allan Walsh (Sports Agent) said on Twitter that the NHLPA informed the NHL that they are willing to play without an agreement (if one isn’t reached by September 15th), so that the players are not locked out of the league and fans will not miss games.

The ball is now in the owner’s court.  This is a huge change and a huge move by the players.  The Owners are now set up to look even worse if they don’t accept this, because then they are deliberately trying to lockout the players when they are willing to continue playing without an agreement.  Quite honestly, I’m not sure what the consequences for the players are if they play without an agreement, or if they will even be paid for playing, but I’m thoroughly impressed and happy this is the direction they have gone.  It shows the players aren’t being greedy and are truly trying to get the best and most fair agreement they can.  How will the Owners react to this? I’m not sure, but the players have made their move and it’s an act of good faith.  One more thing, keep in mind that this is not all Gary Bettman’s fault.  He is employed by the Owners, to get deals and agreements that they want, and is merely a pawn doing their bidding.

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The Cowboy Classic Nightmare Revisited

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Jeff

Ugh.  Watching the highlights of this game all day Sunday and on and off this week has killed me inside.  The only good thing is that the major difference between the two teams was simple, and can be summed up in one word.  Experience.  Michigan brought 17 true freshman on the trip with them, and 12 of them played.  Think about that for a second, 12 true freshman played their first collegiate football game against the second best, if not the best, team in the country.  I’d be shocked if Alabama played more true freshman other than runningback TJ Yeldon; Yeldon will also be a first round pick in three years, the kid is an absolute stud.  That experience they have is an extra 2+ years in the weight room, extra time watching film, practicing, playing college football.  Michigan was literally pushed around the whole field, and as I said in my season preview, the trenches are where football games are won.

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The NCAA Drops The Ball Again: UNC Off Scot-Free

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Jeff

Okay, so the original details of what happened are here.  Long story short, North Carolina created fake classes and had academic advisors tell their student athletes to take these fake classes to boost their GPA.  The NCAA conducted a year-long investigation of UNC and the improper benefits given to their athletes, and completely missed this.  A newspaper found out about the internal review UNC did (to find the department with the fake classes), and in less than a month of investigating, the NCAA concluded on August 31st that the no-show classes were not against their rules.  Wait, what?

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What Blake Countess’ Injury Means For The Team

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Jeff

Blake Countess, Michigan’s #2 cornerback, tore his ACL in the 1st quarter of the embarrassing game against Alabama (a game I’m not quite ready to talk about, but will have a write-up for later this week).  The good news is that Countess will get a Medical Redshirt and will still have three years to play after this year.  Unfortunately, this team now is without their best cover cornerback, a costly casualty to say the least.

Right now, I expect Courtney Avery (Junior) to come in and take over the #2 spot, opposite JT Floyd (Redshirt Senior).  The only problem with this is the simple fact that Avery is not good in man coverage (to put it nicely), and is more of a zone coverage, nickel cornerback.  His lack of man coverage ability, will mean that Raymon Taylor (Sophomore) will either get put into a starting role opposite Floyd so that Avery isn’t a liability, or it means that there will be more zone coverage defense.  Unfortunately the latter is more likely; zone coverage defense will now be a mainstay, and maybe even the base strategy.  The defense has just been significantly downgraded, and the secondary had been the most experienced group on the defense going into this season, and this is a huge hit.  We all saw how well the zone defense worked against Alabama, and unfortunately there could be a lot of the same upcoming.  That all being said, I trust Greg Mattison to come up with a good scheme each week and to get the defense put back together.

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